Teenage Jimmy Page Toured Around With Neil Christian & the Crusaders in an Old Ambulance

Jimmy Page is most known for his work in the rock band Led Zeppelin. Before starting Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, Page earned local fame in England as a guitarist for a band called Neil Christian & the Crusaders. According to Bob Spitz’s 2021 biography Led Zeppelin: The Biography, the band toured so much that they had to use an old ambulance to get around.

Jimmy Page ‘left school’ to tour with Neil Christian & the Crusaders

Page became a member of Neil Christian & the Crusaders when he was only a teenager. When he first joined the group, the band went by Red E. Lewis & the Red Caps.

Each member went by a stage name, and Page’s stage name was Nelson Storm. When Chris Tidmarsh became the band’s lead singer and took on the stage name Neil Christian, the group became known as Neil Christian & the Crusaders.

According to Led Zeppelin: The Biography, touring with Neil Christian & the Crusaders became difficult for Page.

“The schedule in 1960 became untenable for sixteen-year-old Jimmy. The demands of school and performing were brutal, the energy required unsustainable,” writes Spitz.

Because of this, Page decided to leave school “after passing five G.C.E. ‘O’ level exams.”

“I left school and went straight into Neil Christian & the Crusaders,” Page said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography.

Neil Christian & the Crusaders used an ambulance to tour

Once Page left school, Neil Christian & the Crusaders were able to tour much more. The band started touring so often, they became well-known across the country.

“We acquired a good reputation,” Jimmy said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography, “but touring was very primitive.”

Because of how often the band toured, they ended up needing to use “an old London ambulance.”

In Led Zeppelin: The Biography, Spitz writes, “A rickety Ford van quickly became impractical and was replaced by an old London ambulance, a big beast of a vehicle. The band stripped the insides and installed three rows of seats from city bus castoffs, behind which a mountain of gear was piled. At a certain point, as their fortunes grew, they even employed a driver, Don Stewart.”

How often did Jimmy Page tour with Neil Christian & the Crusaders?

According to Led Zeppelin: The Biography, Neil Christian & the Crusaders performed at town halls, assembly buildings, and different clubs all across England.

Once Page left school, the band essentially took on as many gigs as possible, with Spitz writing that “the demand was so great, they often played two gigs a night that were nowhere near in proximity.”

“For instance, on a Saturday night, we regularly played an out-of-town gig, then made tracks back to London to play what was called an all-nighter at La Discotheque at two a.m. on the Sunday morning,” John Spicer, the bassist in Neil Christian & the Crusaders, said in Led Zeppelin: The Biography.